Welcome to my page. I hope you enjoy meeting my Tooth Collector fairies – Batina, Lainey the Brainiac, Little Lulu and all of the other fairies who live in the magical land of Brushelot. Click the Event tab above to see where I’ll be next. To order books, scroll down to the end of this page or visit the Shop Here tab. Hope to see you soon!

Batina’s story is one of determination and teamwork…The positive message of working together and embracing diversity makes this early-level chapter book, illustrated by Gabhor Utomo, shine.

Melinda L.

This is a great book. I can imagine reading this book with my grandchild. It’s really a perfect book to read with your child or for your child to read. I must say that the pictures throughout the book were beautiful. I’ll have to see if there are more books by this author for my grandchildren.

Sarah Westmoreland

Readers' Favorite

Batina’s Best First Day is a skillfully written children’s story that teaches several important lessons: Always do your best, accept other people’s differences, never give up and (of course) brush your teeth!

Jack Magnus

Readers' Favorite

Batina’s Best First Day is a witty and entertaining tale about what really happens when you put those teeth under your pillow. The Illustrations are magical and work perfectly with the story.

Mamta Madhaven

Readers' Favorite

This story is adorable and whimsical, and kids will love those fairies. The illustrations are enchanting and give good pace and movement to the story, breathing life into the characters.

Kirkus Reviews

Ditto underlines the importance of well-brushed teeth from a tooth fairy’s point of view, an intriguing choice since children are generally more interested in what the collector leaves under their pillows.

Readers' Favorite

With short chapters, lots of color illustrations, an age-appealing topic and an appropriate reading level, I think Denise Ditto has nailed it.

What inspired Batina’s oversized wings? In the original short version of Batina’s Best First Day, discussed in an earlier blog post, Batina did not have any unusual characteristics. When redeveloping the picture book to a chapter book I felt the…

We are excited and honored to officially announce the Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category Winners for the 2018 LITTLE PEEPS Book Awards at the annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and the 2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards ceremony. This year’s…

The original story about Batina was intended to be a picture book. It had 1078 words – words that I loved. It was tentatively titled, The Real Tooth Fairy Story – What Happens to all those Teeth? In this version,…